The Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) will build a new bus stand at a cost of Rs. 30 crore for mofussil and express services at Udupi. KSRTC Chairman and Byndoor MLA K. Gopal Poojary told reporters on Monday that the bus stand would come up on a 2.5-acre land at Bannanje for which tenders will be being called for soon. These buses operate out of the old private bus stand taken on rent from the City Municipal Council.

Mr. Poojary said that the new bus stand would have an underground parking lot, 27 bus bays, a food court and a shopping complex. The bus stand can handle about 100 buses in an hour. Tenders have already been called for construction of a city bus stand in Udupi on the old DDPI office premises at a cost of Rs. 4 crore. Managing Director S.R. Umashankar said that the bus stand at B.C. Road would be ready for inauguration in about a month.

While approval has been given for construction of service bus station in 3-acre land at Bannanje at a cost of Rs 35 crore, city bus stations will come up at Manipal, Udupi and Manipal at a cost of Rs 10 crore, Pramod, also district minister, announced here on Sunday.

I hope bus stops will have well designed parking facilities for autorikshaws and cycles also so to make it multi-mode.

Meanwhile, the government is keen on setting up an airport at Udupi that would have infrastructure for air buses to land. The Udupi airport is expected to increase the inflow of tourists to the district. He said there is a need to set up a tourism corridor connecting Ottinenne and Jomlutheertha.

The forest department has come up with an ambitious project of a forest park at a cost of Rs 1.2 crore here at 80-Badagabettu area. RFO Clifford told DH that the park is coming up on a huge space covering 275 acres of land. It will be a unique project and will be opened for public within a month. The project comprises of forest cover in 60 acres and the remaining area will have all basic facilities, he added.

“Padukere can be developed as a beach where people come to spend their time in a quiet and leisure manner,” Sudesh Shetty, Developer In-charge of Malpe beach and St. Mary’s Island, said. Meanwhile, the Tourism Department has got proposals seeking to provide boat service to the nearby Darya Bahadurgarh Island (also called Bhadargad Island), where a fort is located. “We will have to get clearance from other authorities for this and also do a feasibility study on whether this can be provided,” Ms. Anitha said.

The island will now get a green cover with an eco-park where medicinal plants and local flora will be grown. As many as 50 almond saplings, 60 coconut saplings, along with saplings of mango and fig, were planted recently. Arrangements would be made to transport 10,000 litres of drinking water daily to the Island, which would then be reused to water these saplings.

For adventure enthusiasts, deep sea fishing, cliff jumping, kayaking and snorkelling facilities will be provided. “We will make provisions for camp fire at night. The real beauty of St. Mary’s Island can been seen from 4 p.m. to 9 a.m., when people can see the sunset and also the sunrise,” said Sudesh Shetty, owner of the private agency in charge of tourism promotion on the island.

If we develop efficient 'amphibious bicycles' {1,2,3,4} then we can peddle through rivers or sea also. Or else at river crossings we have to have bicycle to kayak or peddle boat exchange facilities on both sides of rivers.

Stating that tourism development offers plenty of employment opportunities, he said that tourism would be more lucrative as compared to the agriculture. He maintained that there is a need for farsighted vision to promote tourism

Mechanized agriculture will be more productive than tourism in future. But for farm labours who lose jobs due to mechanization, tourism will be generate lucrative alternate job opportunities.

Quote:

Later in the evening the district administration had organised a unique celebration under the theme of community participation in Muduthonse Island which comes under Kalliyanpura gram panchayat. The DC said that other than beach and religious tourism, the district intends to introduce Island tourism. She said the concept of the Island tourism and community participation was conceived following a project carried out by the Students of School of Architecture, Manipal University.

The floating restaurant will be a mesmerising venture which is envisaged at the cost of Rs 4 crore. It will be set up in a huge boat which accommodates 100 people at a time. The tender is yet to be called for the construction of the boat. A proposal is submitted to the state tourism department director in this regard, she (District Tourism Department Assistant Director Anitha B R) said.

A Maharashtra-based company named SDM Architect has prepared the design and the estimate project report is done by the Nirmiti Kendra in Udupi. Nirmiti Kendra project director Arun Kumar said that the district would be second only after Goa in this sea stretch to house a floating restaurant in

Nirmiti Kendra project director Arun Kumar said that the district will be second only after Goa in this sea stretch to house a floating restaurant in the sea. The proposal has been submitted. The project can be completed in one year. If the approval is received, the work will begin immediately, he added.

The list of lesser-known attractions includes the picturesque Varanga village, which houses Jain basadis, the Kathale Basadi and temples in Barkur, the waterfalls such as Kodlu Tirtha, Jomlu Tirtha and Arabi Falls, and the Kshitija Nesara Dhama at Othinene, which provides a panoramic view of a river merging with the Arabian Sea. “These places will give a new experience to tourists. We also want to promote the art and culture of the district during the fest,” she said.

The construction of the walkway will begin on November 1 and completed by December-end. An amount of Rs. 53.5 lakh has been released by the Malpe Development Committee to the Nirmiti Kendra to construct the sea walkway.

The length of the sea walkway will be 500 metres from the jetty and its width will be 8.5 feet.

Quote:

Tourists will be able to watch breathtaking views of three islands, St. Mary’s Island, Light-House Island and the Bhadargad Island (also called Dariyagad or Darya Bahadurgad Island).

They will be able to watch dolphins at the sea walkway point in addition to the fishing boats going to catch fish during the mornings and evenings. Besides, it would be a good site for fish angling.

“The blue sky just before the sunset will be a scene the tourists will treasure,” Mr. Shetty said.

“We will have to do some stone cutting to level the land and then put the soil to create the sea walkway. Then we will put sand and after that we will put the inter-lock tiles and then the benches and ornamental lamps. It will be ready by December-end,” said Arun Kumar, project director, Nirmiti Kendra.

"We were in the process of scouting for ideal place for this adventure sport and found Mulki Rocks with its natural rock formations in the middle of the sea offering depths of up to 15 metres as the ideal place for people to try out 'try dive' programme that we offers," Pawan said.

A 30-minute boat ride takes one to the dive site. Assuring the divers - first timers included some of the best under-water experiences led by a group of skilled and passionate instructors at an initial offer price of Rs. 3500, Pawan says if a plan by the tourism department to start a marine park in the site materializes in the future, it will offer a memorable experience for the divers, something that a sunken ship off Goa offers to the discerning tourists who relish underwater sports.

Why just marine park? Why not Film City itself in Kaup along with marine park in sea? Let marine life conservation with marine park & ecotourism and building other economical infrastructure happen together supporting each other in a sustainable way. Anyway, how much total area of the sea will be declared as Marine Park?

He added that a sculpture camp is being organised as a part of the mega tourism event in the district. Udupi Parba and the sculptures by artistes from across the country would remain in Mannupalla as a part of asset building measure. This would enhance the beauty of the place as well as the identity. It would also hike the level of achievement to mark a niche for the artistes themselves. The artistes who are taking part are all well-known in the country, said Madhwaraj.

It would be a conglomeration of the various sculptural arts with cultural tradition, he said.

Malpe is known for having the second-largest boat anchoring harbour and it's a fast developing tourist spot. There's a beautiful St Mary's Island with columnar rock structure, which is found elsewhere only in Africa. Its also known as Swachh Island.

"We're also developing a 1.5-km stretch of Padukere Beach. It's a virgin beach which will be developed to get blue flag recognition. Once it is identified with a blue tag, it will attract international tourists. We're developing roads and toilets. Soon, it'll be India's No. 1 beach and the foundation for the project has been laid," he said. He added, "I hope Malpe fishermen don't depend only on fishing. They should generate revenue through tourism too."

Pramod Madhwaraj, Minister of State for Fisheries, Youth Empowerment and Sports, said recently that efforts are made to get the ‘blue flag’ certification for Padukere Beach near Malpe. He was speaking after inaugurating the State’s first Sea Walkway at Malpe, here.

Quote:

The ‘blue flag’ certification is given by the Foundation for Environmental Education for a beach, a marina or a sustainable boating tourism operator.

What is the size of wearable device? How much effectively it can be hidden from offenders? Many of child traffickers are becoming smart enough to detect smart watch, smart locket, wrist phone, smart tag etc.

He (K. Satyamoorthy, director of SOLS) said the programme also created a startup ecosystem within the academic set-up and ensured that students were nurtured and mentored towards entrepreneurship in their expert areas in the biotechnology domain. “Manipal University is looking forward to initiate a bio-incubator in the near future, with the help of the authorities,” he said.

The projects of the SMVITM included design for development of city and service bus stands in Udupi; recharging phreatic zone through previous concrete pavement; an android controlled application for the movement of wheelchair designed for the differently abled; ‘Track Me’ – a child tracking system; ‘Agricopter’ – a farmer friendly project; voice-based email system for the visually challenged; and vehicle accident analysis system.

The projects submitted by the Manipal Institute of Technology included online payment portal for water bill; automatic detection of traffic violators using surveillance; “Kool Meenu” – improving livelihood of fisherwomen by providing them with solar-powered light-weight cooler for selling fish; “Mobile Agro” – Information Technology driven agricultural support system and solutions for arecanut in coastal and Malenad areas; “Clean City” - an app to connect government officials and people; an android app to prevent waste of food; and optimisation of biogas production using food waste and cow dung.

The Canna indica mother bed is being cultivated by the district administration under the Solid and Liquid Resource Management Programme of Swachh Udupi Mission. The Swachh Udupi Mission is aimed at making Udupi a “garbage-free district” by October 2, 2018.

And Canna Indica (काबाळे, बाळे हूवु) can be used for bioethanol though not clear whether it could be done at commercial scale. And there are many more uses - 1,2,3,4.

The Atal Tinkering Laboratories (ATL), which aims at encouraging innovation among students, was inaugurated at Volakadu Government Composite High School on Friday.

Quote:

The government had provided Rs. 10 lakh under the scheme. Of this amount, the school had spent Rs. 7 lakh for the labs, including Rs. 5 lakh on purchasing various lab equipment. While Rs. 2 lakh was spent on a hall for this purpose. The government would be providing Rs. 2 lakh for maintenance grants for next five years, she said.

The process involved extensive site analysis and stakeholder consultations and also focused on strengthening relationship between people, culture, physical, and built attributes of the city.

The proposals included integration and networking of ecological layers to improving their accessibility and preservation. Special emphasis was on improving interface of the city with the Tunga river. The study also suggested various ways and means to strengthen public transport, rejuvenation of waterbodies, integrated waste management, and enhancing cultural vibrancy in the city.

Manipal: The Centre for Sports Science, Medicine and Research under School of Allied Health Sciences, Manipal University, was formally inaugurated by Dr Ranjan R Pai, chairman and MD, Manipal Education and Medical Group (MEMG), Bengaluru, here on Friday.

The ventre is expected to become one of the best sports science centres in the country. It is equipped to test sportspersons for their baseline status and will offer sports medicine and sports science consultation to athletes and support staff.

Quote:

For now, cardiorespiratory endurance assessment, tests of anaerobic power, sports specific fitness assessment, 2D and 3D running and sports specific motion analysis, prediction of injury risk and mitigating exercise program, rehabilitation following sports injuries, strength and conditioning program designed for team sport and individual athletes, resting metabolic rate measurement, obesity management and weight maintenance and hydration assessment, are being offered by the centre.

Summa: Investment of Rs. 1,000 crores, 10 acres land, 2 MMT production capacity, 500 jobs. Clinker will be brought through railways. Gypsum will be produced from FGD (flue gas desulfurization) system of UPCL. Currently 2 x 600 MW UPCL thermal power plant produces 0.3 MMT of flying ash. And 1.2 MMT of flying ash will be available after increasing capacity by another 2 x 800 MW. 80% of flying ash will be used by Adani cement plant and remaining 20% will be used by by others.

Alva also said that the Power Purchase Agreement with government of Karnataka for UPCL’s expansion of 1,200 MW is in process of completion and the expansion Plant will be commissioned within 40 months. Presently the UPCL is meeting 12 percent of the total demand of electricity of the Karnataka State and with the expansion it will be adding another 1,200 MW to the Grid, making State self-sufficient to meet the electricity demand, he added.

Adani cement grinding unit would be set-up in the premises of UPCL plant for the utilization of fly ash and the cement unit provides employment opportunities to the locals. Setting-up of Water Desalination plant by Adani Group is also in the project pipeline to cater to the water requirements by Industries in Mangaluru and also provide free water supply to nearby villagers in and around UPCL plant, he added.

Coastal people have habit of feeding salt to coconut trees during rainy season. Hope now people will use some amount of desalination plant effluent for coconut trees instead of salt if effluent does not contain harmful chemicals (Desalination Plant Effluents Analysis). Today's news paper talks about load shedding in Mangaluru & Udupi. What is this power plant expansion is for? For lifting water of Yettinahole? When will Udupi and Mangaluru get 24x7 power without any cut?

Contruction of ' Indian Institute of Gems & Jewellery' is in progress. But why Udupi MP is not making any effort to bring 'Jewellery Park' to Udupi? Whether it is pollutant industry? But, Jewellery Park business is growing in all across India! {1}

Mangaloreans, finally we may expect at least one 'Achche Din'. Depends upon whether Mangaluru MP request Prime Minister to come and lay foundation for NIELIT, CIPET and 'Petroleum University', all together in a single day!

“When Steve Jobs went on the stage in 2008 to announce the App Store, he showed the first 500 apps, and the five of them were built in this building, in Udupi,” Rohith Bhat, founder of Robosoft tells me as I sat down to record this episode of Outliers in Udupi, a small temple town located some 400 kilometres from Bangalore.

"We have started engaging with our customers in banking, finance, media and retail sectors to identify business moments that play a key role in their business to build digital and design roadmaps for them," Robosoft chief executive Ravi Teja told ET Tech. "If my customer has to spend a million dollar on a certain technology to experiment in a closed user group, we are building scenarios on what would be the business case and the possible outcome," Teja said.

We can then design and build the product and ensure that these platforms are not just downloaded but continuously used by consumers by advising them on how to drive usage, customer acquisition and eventually, how do you make money out of it" he added.

Startup/Hobby Theme Park within filmcity may lead to innovations in movies also. For example, innovative gadgets like kittyhawk can be used in films. Just imagine hero or heroine, who happens to be a hobbyist, flying on kittyhawk firing at terrorists' or smugglers' boat or ship.

Only thing is Kaup MLA should take interest to materialize the dream of people of his constituency for having a filmcity at Kaup and airport at Padubidri. By the way, why there is no news on progress made so far for construction of airport? Whether feasibility study is done or whether DPR itself is getting ready?

And then Kundapur, Karkala, Uppinangadi & BC Road will also have hobby theme parks or clubs.

So far no statement on this by Kaup MLA or Udupi MP. Neither on Padubidri Airport work commencement. I don't know what is the achievement of Udupi-Chickmagalur MP so far. I don't even think for bringing 'Gems & Jwellery Institute' to Udupi she had made any contribution and we all know about who is behind 'Startup Coast'.

Since the central government plan is to develop Kaup as health city (hopefully including health knowledge city) I have changed the title of the filmcity as 'Alupa Floating Filmcity'. This filmcity can be floating in sea near Kaup or anywhere in the coastal districts. Since Indian government has proposed plan to build floating cities developing a floating filmcity will not be a problem. Like the historical Alupa Kingdom this filmcity will also shine for more than thousand of years producing Tulu, Konkani, Beary, Hindi and also Kannada and other language movies. I think we can have more than 5000 acres floating filmcity in the sea. But the mall planned by an NRI can be within Udupi city itself including all kinds of film schools and film study institutes.

This report here is only a temporary setback to the coast as the CM favouring this city for filmcity is going to lose power in another two months and since the party coming to power will favour the coast. This is because the party coming to power will not win any seat in that region and it will win maximum number of seats in the coastal districts. There is also no threat of bollywood copying any idea from here. The filmcity definitely is coming to Karavali. Don't worry Karavalites!

Will Film City project be launched before elections? - In the past also foundation stones were laid for so many things before election and then abandoned. In this case also the next government will decide the location of the film city. Tuluvas don't worry coastalwood will have its own film city soon.

• Dr B R Shetty plans to set up India's highly advanced multiplex at Udupi as part of supporting Project Indywood and as a gift to his hometown
• Another big budget project from NMC Group Founder after the announcement of Rs 1000 crore Mahabharata movie
• More NRI tycoons and corporates to support 10 billion US dollar Project Indywood

I am more interested in 'Film City' than multiplexes. But hope multiplex will give boost to animation industry by reserving enough office space for animation studios.

Karnataka government on one hand talks about eco-system. But on the other hand wants to promote a film city in a city where film industry does not even exist. We have eco-system ready with coastalwood. And coastal Karnataka can easily expand to both Kannada & Hindi films production also as we have enough stars & directors in both Bollywood & Sandalwood. But strange are the ways in which politics work.

What we need to produce is very good Hindi Script Writers so that we can contribute to Hindi Film, Comics, Cartoons Industry in a big way and earn enough from it. Don't we have enough people knowing Hindi? And we need then dubbing artists also. Hope Film Schools planned along with multiplex will achieve this.

Sohan Roy added, "BR Shetty was the only billionaire, who attended the 2nd edition of Indywood Film Carnival last year. He already announced Rs 1,000 crore movie, which is going to be the biggest budget film ever made in Indian cinema. He has also announced to build the 8K cinema in his native Udupi, Karnataka and it is first ever theatre in India. This is also the first of its kind of cinema hall."

Whether 'School of Film Studies' is also included in the plan for Udupi?

With the Detailed Project Report being submitted to the government for getting Varahi water to Udupi through pipelines to meet the drinking water needs during summer, the tenders for this project are expected to be floated in about a month-and-a-half.

The project, under the Karnataka Integrated Urban Water Management Investment Programme (KIUWMIP), envisages laying pipelines for 39.6 km from the jackwell of the non-functional lift irrigation pumphouse at Bharathkal village across the Varahi to the dam across the Swarna at Baje, about 15 km from Udupi.

This would provide round-the-clock and round-the-year water to the city. This project would cost Rs. 270 crore. Last year, the water in the Swarna had dried up on April 29 and the Varahi has perennial water supply. The other important projects which will be inaugurated by Mr. Siddaramaiah are the third phase of Malpe Fisheries Harbour built at a cost of Rs. 69 crore, the Rs. 9-crore Kurady Bridge, the Rs. 1.5-crore Zilla Panchayat Training Centre in Manipal among others.

The works which would be inaugurated and for which foundation stones would be laid had been estimated to cost Rs. 581 crore, Mr. Madhwaraj said.

"The government has sanctioned Rs 270 crore for the expansion of the Varahi project aimed at providing 24x7 water supply for the district. The department concerned has taken up road widening work at a cost of Rs 14 crore at Ambagilu-Manipal-Malpe and other city roads. In all, the government has spent Rs 600 crore for the road construction work. More than Rs 13 crore has been given for beach development. Udupi is the only constituency getting electricity round the clock.

Make this institute specialized for 'Biomedical Engineering' & 'Marine Engineering' (non-maritime marine engineering like Ocean Engineering, Maricultural/Aquacultural Engineering etc as there is separate peoposal for Indian Maritime University). And let us hope for 'Health & Marine Knowledge City" in the coastal Karnataka also.

Wonder how many neural engineers and bionic engineers of Tulunadu are working on wearable/implantable bionic organs? Also wonder which technology will enable handicapped to interact with the world in a better way in future - bionics, regenerative medicine etc? {1,2,3,4,5,6}.

The district administration is, in association with MIT, organising “Grand Challenge Udupi” in search of creative and novel solutions to some major issues faced by the district in four fields — solid waste management, drinking water resource management, pre-school and primary education, and menstrual health management.

The Center for Supply Chain Education and Research (CSCER), Manipal University, and Krishnapatanam Port, Nellore, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) recently to develop and deliver focused education programmes.

A press release issued by the university here on Monday said that the other areas of focus will be to identify and encourage joint research initiatives, organize conferences through well-researched paper and case studies and develop and deliver joint development programmes for faculty and management professionals.

Quote:

On the other hand, Manipal University, with its international edge will design customized programmes for careers in port management, containerization, warehouse management and supply chain management.

MANIPAL: Dr VM Katoch, former director general of ICMR and member RAC launched the Elsevier Pure Portal at Manipal University, Manipal here on Tuesday.

The Pure Portal is an enterprise research management solution that aggregates research information from various sources and brings on a single platform to ensure the data that drives strategic decisions is trusted, comprehensive and accessible in one place.

Manipal University will be the first university in India to have this portal. It will showcase data to researchers and support national and international collaborations. The launch programme was presided over by Dr H S Ballal, pro chancellor, Dr H Vinod Bhat, vice chancellor, Narayana Sabhahit, Registrar and members of Research Advisory Committee of Manipal University. The event was organized by the Directorate of Research, Manipal University.

The Pure Portal is an easy-to-use online solution for researchers profiling and research networking capabilities. This portal will speed up searching for researchers and accelerate the identification of expert collaborators from across disciplines; borders thus facilitate more effective and productive partnerships. For Manipal University this highly versatile portal will enable to build reports, carry out performance assessments, manage researcher profiles, and enable research networking and expertise discovery.

When will Tulunadu develop its own research/innovation informatics tools?

I think after LPG pipeline accidents while transporting LPG through trucks has gone down. But LPG pipeline itself prone to hazards. To have local expertize in 'Hazardous Materials Analytics' is useful as coastal Karnataka has and going to have so many hazardous industries.

There will be waste segregation at source under the project. This will help in creating recycled products. For instance, the cloth pieces picked up from tailor shops will be used for making pillows. The skin of lemon and other citrus fruits will be used for making utensil washing powder. Dry flowers will be used for making rangoli powder. Besides these, cloth bags, doormats, organic insecticides and organic fertilizers will be sold at the stall.

Education 4.0 is putting students at the heart of educational experience and creating individual learning experiences. Education 1.0 was the traditional method of students going to a Gurukul in India. Then came the universities as in Takshila and Nalanda in India.

Quote:

In Education 4.0, students can create a degree of their own, are able to do a degree in nuclear science [combining it] with biotechnology, with dance, with music or with fundamental physics or something like that.

The mix and match is available and can be done offline or online. A student can sit at home do a course online and get a degree.

Sources close to CCRS are alleging that, apart from herbal products, pharmacopoeial standards are yet to be prepared for medicines made out of minerals and metals, as well as those made from body parts of animals. According to them, vigorous steps need to be taken for developing these standards for classical formulations in Siddha. As on today, said the team leader of a research team working on preparation of pharmacopoeial standards for Siddha medicines in Manipal University, only 20 poly-herbal drugs have been so far identified and subjected for analytical studies for developing standards out of the 40,000 classical formulations in Siddha.

I wonder how many Ayurvedic Dentalcare Clinics are there in Tulunadu? How many Ayurvedic colleges teach dental care in Tulunadu? What are Ayurvedic medicines which can replace antibiotics? {1,2,3,4,5}. Wonder whether those painless tooth extraction videos are genuine ones!

According to a press release issued by the SOC here on Wednesday, Dr. Bhat (Vice-Chancellor H. Vinod Bhat) said that interdisciplinary and trans-disciplinary research works need to be taken up in the universities in the country. He added that with the help of available resources in the university, the creation of new knowledge base was possible. To do so, the university planned to establish 100 different centres by 2020 and the Multimedia Resource Centre was the 82nd in the MAHE.

Quote:

Shubha H.S., coordinator of the centre, said that the centre would provide support for high quality audio-visual/multimedia production and dissemination of resources and in the process, participate in capacity building within and beyond the university.

“Foundation will be laid for a project worth Rs 41 crore to supply drinking water from Manipur lake to Kaup Municipal Council and surrounding villages, scientific research center worth Rs 400 crore in Belapu, industrial zone worth Rs 10 crore, government polytechnic worth Rs 8.63 crore, waste disposal unit of Kaup Municipal Council and drain water purification unit at a cost of Rs 10 crore and works of other departments.

The cost of the science centre has risen from Rs. 126.5 crores to 400 crores. Is this rise due to fact that Mangalore University is going for 40 acres instead of 20 acres? When will be another 20 acres land requested by the university will be handed over to it? The above news item says the central government has released Rs. 50 crores. When will the state government release its share? Or whether the state government is just interested in doing another foundation stone laying drama?

Summa: People can swipe debit or credit card or use PayTM for all transactions like parking, tea stall, book stall, local food court, general store, prepaid auto, hotel etc. In a few days even ticket counter will be cashless. With this Udupi Railway Station is the first cashless station of railways. With 2,000 daily passengers and Rs. 400,000 daily business Udupi Railway Station currently leads all Konakan Railway stations in business.

The local agencies will help them sell their vegetables directly to customers without the help of middlemen.

Farmers from over ten villages have formed a co-operative society named as ’Tarkari Belegarara Sauharda Society’ which will help farmers sell their produce in Manipal and Udupi through mobile markets.

The vegetables will be sold at a designated spots in Udupi and Manipal on a daily basis. The mobile numbers of the customers will be collected so that they are informed in advance about the availability of vegetables.

Can the customers book vegetables in advance looking at availability? What about home delivery? How far marketing is digitized?

"Though Health Ministry and NITI Ayog decide charges for treatments, over a period of time private hospitals will hike charges and there won't be any difference between government hospitals and private hospitals," the minister said.

How the state government is planning to ensure this will not happen in recently partially privatized government hospital in Udupi?

Karkala, Dec 9: Airports Authority of India (AAI) has drawn up a plan to set up its cargo hub in the region, and has asked revenue department to acquire and hand over to it 2,500 acres of land.

The news has made the people of Inna, Belman, Mulladka, Mundkoor villages in the taluk as well as Palimar, Yellur, Santhoor, Nandikoor and other villages in Kaup taluk jittery as they are apprehensive of losing their land for this project.

It is said that such projects are also proposed to be executed in Mysuru, Belagavi, Vijayapura, Kalaburagi etc.

A decision to identify alternative land in three places of Udupi district was taken at a meeting of Airports Authority held at Bengaluru on June 1 this year.

It is said that the authority plans to manage traffic density in the international airport at Mangaluru in this way as it expects 56 aircrafts presently using he runway at Mangaluru per day to increase to 80 to 100 shortly.

Udupi district deputy commissioner has issued a notice to tahsildars of Karkala, Udupi and Kaup tauks to identify land for the said project and send a report thereof. The notice seeks to create international health city from Kaup lighthouse to Polipu beach, and for the proposed multi model new international airport and cargo hub for which it proposes to acquire land from Palimar, Mulladka, Mundkoor and Inna villages. Satellite images of the land that has be planned to be acquired from villages like Shiroor, Byndoor, Paduvari and Yadtare on the other end of the district, it is learnt. The taluks are expected to verify the satellite maps and provide details to the district administration.

'Nagpur Multi-modal International Air Cargo Hub' has air, rail and road connectivity. I think 'Udupi Multi-modal International Air Cargo Hub' will be real multi-mode transportation hub by having water transportation connectivity also.

Why not 'Health Knowledge City' along with 'Health City'? What we can wish for is all medical R&D, medical related IT/ITES works and medical devices manufacturing industries and pharmaceutical industries to be located in air cargo hub SEZ itself. Medical devices & parts, pharmaceuticals, jewelry (from Jewel Park), food, flower, textiles, garments, ship/boat spare parts, electronics, nanotech products, printed materials can be air cargo.

What about 'Film City'? As I said earlier even 'Karnad Sadashiva Rao Marine Knowledge City', 'Petroleum & Energy Knowledge City' can come up near the airport in Mangaluru Taluk. More land should be handed over to 'Belapu MU Campus'. Even 'Finance Knowledge & IT City' can be considered near airport.

So, if added both for DK & Udupi, requirement is 2,000 acres at Puttur and 2,500 acres in Udupi/Karkala/Kundpura for SAZ/SEZs. Whether land after acquisition will be handed over to private investors?